A Good Life Isn’t Devoid Of Stress; It’s How You Manage It That Counts

Some stress is necessary for life. That is my maxim. That is what I believe. Why is that? I don’t know. Maybe it was the way I grew up. Perhaps, it is how I’m wired. However, I do think that there should always be some stress in life for me to move forward. In fact, stress is slightly positive unless all of us would be somewhat complacent. What do you do if you’re utterly and truly content? I’ve been content for a while, and I just couldn’t pretend anymore. I don’t know what I want, just that I want something and I will do whatever I do in the best way I can. Somewhere in that pursuit, arises stress.

My father said to my brother and me once, “Zindagi mein dikkatein nahi hongi, to insaan karega kya?” which roughly translates to, “If life didn’t have any problems, what would we do?”

That is a powerful statement, and I do understand where that philosophy might come from. I also resonate with that train of thought because I’ve seen that man’s life firsthand and therefore, I know why he said what he said. I cannot lay down a lifetime of pursuits big and small here in this little piece but I hope you trust me when I say, I know.

My university, like most universities, is preparing its students for jobs. Amidst that process are two beautiful courses namely, Behavioural Sciences and Professional Communication. I used the word beautiful here because I find it intriguing how people need to be taught and tested on things they learn as human beings. Insult to modern education aside, let’s focus on Behavioural Sciences.

Behavioural Science in semester six or well, final semester focuses on stress. It’s about stress, understanding it, and managing it among other things. In one such class, the faculty asked us to write what we understood of the word ‘stress’ on the board. Most of us wrote something. I wrote “life” because that is what I believe. A life without stress is no life. The question is how you manage it.

This isn’t a post about stress management instead it’s about the importance of stress. Today, I’m doing more than I’ve ever done and that certainly brings stress with it. In fact, in my idea of becoming the best version of myself that I’ve embraced in the last half year or so taught me that life could be extremely stressful and eventful and all you have to do is find a way to just live with that. That is precisely why I wrote the word “life” on the board.

In a conversation with my friends on the same topic, I learned that half of my friends didn’t have stress. However, some discussion later I discovered that they were just better at managing theirs. In fact, I’m the worst guy in the world when it comes to putting fires out, until I get a hold of myself and do what I’m supposed to be doing, at least. I have a lot of weak moments when I struggle with managing life and finding a balance.

I read this excellent piece from The Daily Mail about stress that afternoon. This piece goes into detail about the positive effects of having and recognising some stress in your life. I love how they used a quote by T.S. Eliot, “If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” I don’t know how else to emphasize the idea that some stress is necessary. The key is managing it. I’ll try to control mine and obviously share whatever I learn here.

Until then, use the comments section to share your thoughts. Is stress necessary? Do you believe it pushes us as people? How do you manage life when it gets stressful? Lay it all down below.

2 comments

Stress is useful. You can’t push yourself without responsibilities and stress.
I find your blog from indiblogger and read 20+ post today. We need blogger like you, Who write for people not for search engine or adsence.
Keep doing it.
Indiblogger says your blog Don’t have a niche.
Well you have a niche its called life or experience s.

Hi Umair. Thank you so much for saying what you did. I’ve been away for a while and had a slight writer’s block. Your comment along with a little understanding of my issues pushed me to try and write again. Stick around, new posts every Tuesday.